Frontier town · Erzurum: the Saltukids · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Pasin

The castle on its rock above the Pasin plain (Basean), east of Erzurum on the road to Kars and Tabriz.

The plain will see the great Georgian victory over Suleymanshah II (Basiani, dated 1202-1205).

Who holds it

Title
Saltukid commander
Since
not pinned
Confidence
medium

Saltukid (TDV); a lord of Pasin, Abu Mansur Arghun Shah, is attested only in 630 AH (1232-33).

Lord in 1200

A Saltukid commander (name not pinned).

How things stand that morning

Saltukid.

Charter

None: a lord's town, not a commune.

Council

No council recorded; the lord's governor (shihna or subashi) and the judge (qadi).

Communities

Muslims and Armenians; not recorded.

Fairs and markets

None recorded for 1200.

Militia

The lord's garrison in the citadel.

Walls and castle

Hill castle above the town.

Trade and crafts

The road east; hot springs; flocks.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Outline only.

On the map: Point only.

Primary sources for Saltukids

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • The Chronicle of Michael the Syrian (Michael the Great), Michael the Syrian, patriarch of Antioch 1166 to 1199 (about 1180 to 1195). The Jacobite patriarch's world chronicle, in parallel columns of church, secular and miscellaneous events, ending four years before 1200 and shortly before his own death on 7 November 1199, which left the Syrian Orthodox church with a disputed succession in 1200. Read online
  • History of the Armenians, Kirakos Gandzaketsi (1241 to 1265). Written at Getik and Gandzak in the Zakarid lands of Georgian Armenia. Read online
  • The Georgian Chronicles: the Histories and Eulogies of the Sovereigns, and the Life of Queen Tamar, Anonymous, attributed to the chancellor Theodore of Chqondidi and to Basili, master of the court (about 1210 to 1225). Two court histories of Queen Tamar written within a generation. Read online
  • The History of the Seljuks of Rum, Ibn Bibi (Nasir al-Din Husayn ibn Muhammad) (about 1281 to 1285, at Konya). The main Seljuk narrative for Rum begins with Kilij Arslan II's partition of the sultanate among his sons and his death (1192), Kaykhusraw I's first reign at Konya, his deposition in 1196 to 1197 by Rukn al-Din Sulayman II, Kaykhusraw's wanderings to Cilician Armenia, Aleppo and Constantinople, Sulayman's reduction of his brothers' towns (Tokat, Malatya, Amasya, and Ankara by 1204) and his Erzurum and Georgian campaigns. Read online

Sources and studies

  1. TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi, 'Saltuklular' (A. Ozaydin, history; N. C. Akcil, architecture), vol. 36, 2009
  2. Wikipedia, 'Battle of Basian' (Ibn Bibi's date 598 AH and the modern range 1202-1206)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.